


Facing a crossroads

by Nival_Vixen



Series: Gods of old [4]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alpha Scott, Alternate Universe - Gods & Goddesses, Canon-Typical Violence, Complete, Dark Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski, Derek Hale is a God, F/F, F/M, Gods, M/M, Magical Stiles Stilinski, Oblivious Scott, Revenge, Scott is a Bad Friend, Series, Stiles Stilinski is a God, Werewolf Derek
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-06
Updated: 2015-12-06
Packaged: 2018-05-05 05:54:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,249
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5363906
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nival_Vixen/pseuds/Nival_Vixen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Four years have passed since Stiles and Derek left Beacon Hills, and today, they're going back to face Scott's army.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> More than any time in history mankind faces a crossroads. One path leads to despair and utter hopelessness, the other to total extinction. Let us pray that we have the wisdom to choose correctly.  
> \- Woody Allen

Four years had passed since they left Beacon Hills. Four years for them to train, to return their power to full strength, to travel the world, to see and do things that they'd never been able to do in their previous incarnations. Stiles and Derek walked hand in hand, ignored all others as they made out filthily in front of the scandalised stares, and were generally happy to be in the other's presence. One would suggest a place to travel to, to see how it had changed since their creation or last visit, and the other would agree within minutes.

Poland took some convincing to return to, but despite being the one to suggest it, Stiles found that he could barely stand to be in the country for more than a few hours. Derek didn't say that he told Stiles so, both of them quiet that night as they curled around each other, holding the other close and firm, soft and lingering kisses following them into their dreams and warding against nightmares.

But now, they both knew that the end was finally here. They had finished travelling, Stiles had crossed off most of his list - the rest of the flora and fauna were likely extinct if not even _they_ could find them now - and they'd done all of the sight-seeing they'd both wanted to do. All over the world, they'd let their power be free, and most people realised that they were something, even if they didn't know exactly what they were. Stiles and Derek had been warmly welcomed and loathed on sight, envied and ignored, every human range of emotions that could be displayed had been directed towards them in some way or another over the last four years. It was enough to set Derek's teeth on edge when they were even _near_ a crowd. Stiles was getting sick of the stares as well - even when they'd limited their power, people still stared as if they had a right to view and judge them at a glance.

"Today?" Stiles asked, looking to Derek.

"Today," he agreed without hesitation, nodding gratefully.

"Decided where to end it?"

"Here works," Derek said, shrugging.

Stiles glanced out to the Italian city they could see from their hotel window, pouting slightly. "But Scott said he'd have an _army_ to fight us. Do you really want to disappoint Scott? Aw, c'mon, Dor, I want to have a bit of fun first."

Tnerg let out a snort, body shimmering in the early morning light.

"What's your problem?" Stiles muttered.

_Lowering standards to humans_.

"They started it. We're just finishing it," Derek answered, voice firm and eyes burning blue.

Stiles grinned and met Derek halfway, pulling each other close to kiss, licking and biting at the other's lips. Tnerg barely had time to wrap around them before their blue shields wrapped around them completely and they disappeared.

...

Scott's army was bigger than they expected, but that didn't mean a whole lot in the end. Blue- and yellow-eyed werewolves snarled at Derek and Stiles as soon as they walked into Beacon Hills together, Tnerg invisible as she trailed alongside them.

Stiles didn't bother to act emotional or even respond when they were met halfway down the main street by a man calling himself Scott's second-in-command, who announced in a loud voice that he was there to take them to his illustrious leader. Neither Stiles nor Derek bothered committing any of the werewolves' names to memory, since they'd all be dead shortly anyway.

"Lydia's had her Fields Medal for almost two years now," Scott commented when they were escorted into his house. "I expected you sooner, honestly."

Stiles just frowned for a long moment, the silence stretching between them. "A _goatee_ , really, Scott?"

"What?" Scott replied, looking confused.

"Seriously, Scott, that piece of fluff on your face is going to be so distracting. It looks awful."

"He's right about that, you do look awful. Go shave, we'll give you a few minutes," Derek added with a smirk.

"I'm not shaving," Scott said, glaring at them.

"Oh, fine; be a lazy werewolf, then. I'll do it for you," Stiles muttered.

Scott cried out as his goatee was tugged on firmly by an invisible force before the hairs were all pulled out of his chin in one sharp motion. Spots of blood formed on his chin, healing in a matter of seconds, though his chin ached anyway.

"What the fuck, Stiles?" he yelled.

"I told you it would be distracting. Never said who it'd be distracting for," Stiles said, shrugging.

"Chin up, Scott. You've got an army present, don't lose face in front of them," Derek said, utterly serious despite a single twitch at his lip.

Stiles snorted, grinning at him. "That's one of the funnier things you've said in the last few months, Dor."

"Months? Wasn't there a thing about seafood a couple of weeks ago?"

"You were bouncing off my original joke, so it doesn't count," Stiles replied.

"You still laughed," Derek retorted.

"That's because we're funny. Hey! Not cool, we were having a discussion!" Stiles yelled at Number Two when he shoved them both forward. "Geez, Scott, where'd you get this guy?"

"At a hospital, the day my daughter died," Number Two snarled, eyes glowing blue.

"Our sincerest condolences. I hope you had a good life with her," Derek said, giving him a slight nod.

"I did. Until you two took her from me!"

"Uh, what?" Stiles asked, confused.

"You're gods, you both killed my daughter," Number Two said around his fangs, fingers grown out to claws.

"How'd she die?" Stiles asked.

"Cancer."

"Not us," Stiles said with a shrug. "Life isn't a science test, and we didn't create humans just to have you die off. You've fucked up your own cells somewhere along the way - you started as primordial ooze by the way, so don't give me that look, you overgrown mutt - and cancer's developed as a dormant thing along with you, until it's not so dormant anymore. We don't pick and choose, there's no global calendar to say who's going to die and who'll live, 'cause we don't know that any more than you lot do. I mean, I can tell you that everyone will be dead in the next... oh, what do you think, Dor? Twenty?"

"That's giving them too much credit. Fifteen, at most."

"All right; fifteen minutes, you and everyone else on this fucking planet will be dead. _That_ we know for certain," Stiles said, smiling.

Number Two faltered, obviously expecting some grand revelation to say they were the almighty grim reapers he'd thought them to be. Scott must have a type, since a few more people looked a bit shell-shocked at Stiles' little speech as well.

"How many of you were pulled from the hospital on the day your person died?" Derek asked curiously.

Out of the thirty people gathered, half raised their hands.

"You didn't go around killing people to get their parents, spouses, or siblings, did you, Scotty?" Stiles asked, narrowing his eyes.

Those fifteen people all looked at Scott with a snarl.

"Of course not!" Scott said indignantly.

"Huh. That was a lie," Derek murmured, the gathered werewolves snarling when they realised the truth.

"What do you care? We're all dying anyway, according to you!"

"You killed these people's family members, Scott. Their loved ones. The ones they've been grieving over for all of this time, the ones they've been gearing up to fight for. You killed them, and you expect these people to stay loyal to you, just 'cause we're going to kill everyone in a few minutes?"

Scott snarled, eyes glowing red, and reluctantly, the fifteen people stopped staring at him, turning their gazes back to Stiles and Derek instead.

Derek laughed at the sight. "Oh, look who's been taking lessons from Peter in his spare time."

"You, however, have seemed to work up quite the tan in the last four years, nephew," Peter drawled, stepping out from the shadows to stand beside Scott.

"Now, now, Peter, don't go criticising Derek's complexion when you look like you _still_ belong in Eichen House. Tell me, did you get let out willingly, or did Scott have to kill people to get you away from Dr. Valuck?" Stiles asked curiously.

"I didn't kill anyone," Scott snarled.

"So, broken arms and legs only? Or did you have your little army do it for you? Oh, you _did_ , didn't you? Look at that guilt! Tell me that's not the look of guilt, Dor," Stiles crowed. "So, who here fought tooth and nail to help crazy ol' Petey escape from Eichen? C'mon, hands up, we've still got ten minutes to kill."

Scott growled, eyes still red, and then his betas attacked.

Beside Stiles, Tnerg let out a screech that had all of the werewolves screaming and struggling to cover their ears. Two of the faster werewolves were too close to escape the full damage of the banshee's scream, and dropped to the floor, dead. Others had to have their inner ears heal, wiping off the blood that dripped down their necks, then snarled and approached more warily this time. Tnerg seemed less inclined to scream this time, weaving between the werewolves. Tnerg only killed the ones foolish enough to attack, their claws harmless on the banshee's scales.

_Silly humans, not knowing that it was impossible for ones like_ ** _them_** _to kill a banshee_ , Tnerg commented, sounding both amused and disappointed.

Stiles grinned and leapt forward, joining the fray and following Tnerg the best he could. Derek stayed where he was, growling but otherwise calm as he fought the oncoming werewolves. Glancing back, Stiles could see that Derek didn't even have his fangs _or_ claws out, and yet the werewolves were still being brought down before him. By the time he looked back to where Scott and Peter had been standing, Peter had already plunged his clawed hand into Scott's back and tore out his spine, the True Alpha gasping in pain for a single second as Peter roared an Alpha's roar, his blue eyes turning a fierce red.

Stiles had to stop fighting just to laugh. After all of these years following Peter's lead, trying to organise an army to kill Stiles and Derek, and Scott was killed by _Peter_ instead.

The hold that Scott had had over the werewolves dissipated as Peter took over the Alpha's power and role, and Derek tore his way through what remained of Scott's pathetic army to get to Stiles and Tnerg.

"Are you hurt, Zbee?" Derek asked, his blood-covered hands gentle as he moved Stiles' head to either side to check for any bruises or cuts.

"Nah, I'm fine. They mostly went for you while I hid behind Tnerg. Not a bad fighting strategy, really," Stiles said, grinning broadly.

"Now I have the power to kill you, and gods or not, I will gain your power for myself!" Peter announced.

Stiles' peals of laughter echoed, and the only reason Derek didn't immediately disembowel Peter was because Stiles looked happy.

"Aw, Petey, were Derek and I not giving you enough attention? Poor baby, give us immortals a minute, we'll be right with you," Stiles said, still chuckling as he turned back to Derek. "How long did we have left, anyway? We must've killed them all with five minutes to spare."

"Six, actually. I got ahead of myself. How would you like to spend the next four minutes?"

"Oh, I'm sure it will take at least two to deal with the attention seeker over there," Stiles said dismissively.

Peter wasn't a patient man, nor did he like being ignored, and he let out a glass-shattering roar as he leapt towards Stiles and Derek, intent on fulfilling his threat. He was caught mid-air by Tnerg, who wrapped around him tightly and screeched so loud that Peter's ears burst and started bleeding. Tnerg didn't stop there, however, and continued to scream, draining the emotions out of Peter's body. Werewolf healing or not, there was nothing on Earth that could stop a creature as pure as Tnerg from fulfilling a banshee's purpose. A minute later, Tnerg let go of Peter's body, watching as it fell to the ground beside Stiles and Derek.

"Thank you, sweetheart. You shouldn't have taken so much of his emotions though, all of that junk has got to be bad for you," Stiles cooed, patting Tnerg as the banshee twirled around their bodies.

Tnerg gave a happy trill nonetheless, and followed them back outside.

"Last I heard, Dad and Melissa got married. Who's house do you think they moved in to?" Stiles asked.

"They bought a new house together. I asked the last time we called," Derek added.

"I don't remember you asking that."

"You were deliberating over ice cream flavours in Mövenpick for an hour."

"Ooh, yeah. Well, then, lead the way," Stiles said, waving his arm with a flourish.

Derek realised that he was still covered in blood, and as he turned and continued to walk down the street, blue flames licked over his skin until he was clean once more. Tnerg flitted ahead, still trilling happily. Stiles whistled along with Tnerg, taking Derek's hand in his own and borrowing his flames to clean the blood from his clothes and shoes too.

As they neared the house, Stiles and Derek heard Artemis barking eagerly.

"Artie, settle down, boy," Melissa called, coming out the front door and stopping short when she saw Stiles and Derek. "John!"

"What? What's wrong?" he asked, jogging to the front door, the combination of a barking dog and his wife calling never a good sign. He stopped beside Melissa, eyes filling with tears as he saw his son for the first time in four years. "Stiles."

"Hey, Dad," Stiles said, jumping the picket fence and all but running up to the house to give his father a hug.

"I didn't think I was going to see you again," John admitted, voice thick with emotion and muffled against Stiles' shoulder.

"Couldn't do this without saying a proper goodbye," Stiles said, hugging him a little tighter.

"Ooh, careful. I'm old now, son," John said with a laugh, pulling back slightly as his back ached.

"You don't look a day over forty, dear," Melissa said.

"Then I must've looked terrible at forty," John joked, Stiles laughing.

"See, now _that's_ a joke, Dor. And don't worry, Pops, you're still younger than us."

"All right, all of you inside before we start comparing grey hairs," Melissa said, waving them all inside. "If I'd known you were coming, I would've left some lemonade."

"Don't worry about that; we're just here for a short visit," Derek said, standing up from scratching Artemis behind the ears, and leading him and Tnerg inside.

"It's that time already?" John asked as he guided them through the house to the kitchen.

"Yeah."

"Well, in that case, will you tell us how you're going to do it? We've had a bet running for the last four years. Not much for entertainment around here after Scott took over."

"You could've told us when we called," Stiles pointed out, wandering over to the fridge-freezer to see all of the magnets they'd sent over the past four years crowding every inch of the large appliance.

"We didn't want you to worry. It was mostly a lot of noise and Scott trying to get people to convert to his way of thinking. It worked with some, but most people didn't pay attention. I get a lot of sympathetic looks at the store," Melissa said, shrugging.

"He said he'd have an army ready for you when you came back; I suppose you've already passed through?" John asked, his gaze flicking to his wife.

"It's all right, John. I know that Scott's gone. Despite his power trip and trying to turn me, I'm still his mother, and a mother always knows."

"He tried to turn you?" Derek growled.

"Emphasis on _tried_ ; Artie made sure he didn't. I think it took a whole week for the bites to heal properly."

"I made sure he wouldn't try again," John added with a brief scowl.

Derek looked like he wanted to go put Scott's spine back in so he could kill him all over again.

"If it's any consolation, Peter killed him quickly," Stiles said, taking Derek's hand to stop him from leaving.

Melissa sighed and shook her head. "I tried to tell him that Peter was only in it for himself. Oh, can we talk about something else? I'm sorry," she said, wiping at her tears quickly.

"Nothing to be sorry about, Mel," John reassured her, hugging her around the shoulders.

"To answer your question, John, we're going to be quick and gentle to those that deserve it. Those that don't deserve a gentle death will receive their own special kind of death that involves a lot of pain," Derek said, squeezing Stiles' hand gently.

John yawned widely, Melissa doing the same beside him. "We must definitely be getting old if we're already yawning at three in the afternoon. Sorry, son."

"It's all right, Dad. You go to sleep now. It was good to see you again."

"You too, son. Missed you, both of you," John murmured, yawning again and resting his head on the kitchen bench, just for a moment.

"S'good to see both of you. You look happy," Melissa murmured tiredly, smiling at them as she rested her head on John's shoulder to sleep as well.

"Yeah, we are," Derek said, smiling over at Stiles.

"Definitely," Stiles agreed, moving to kiss Derek quickly. "All right, Dor, let's get this finished."

"Sounds good to me," Derek agreed. "Artie, come on, boy."

Artemis whined softly, licked Melissa's limp hand, nosed against John's still hand, and then followed Stiles and Derek outside after Tnerg.

As they walked along the street, tendrils of blue flames flowed out of their bodies. It flew ahead, even faster than Tnerg, and filled every road, every path, every house in the street, and then in Beacon Hills. Most people simply stopped what they were doing and moved to lie down to sleep. Some people, however, started screaming as if they were being torn apart and burnt alive all at once.

"Not as many as I expected so far," Stiles commented.

"Give it time, we're still in Beacon Hills," Derek replied, both of them watching as the flames continued further, heading past the town's sign and into the wide world.

...

End of the first chapter.


	2. Chapter 2

At the high school, Coach Finstock was yelling at his lacrosse players.

"Come on, run faster! You've got two legs, now use them! You're all slower than Greenberg, and he's dead!" Finstock yelled. "What are you doing? Get up! Are you really going to sleep in the middle of practice? You're all... benched," he said, yawning widely.

Finstock collapsed to the ground face-first. He snored loudly for a second, then stopped.

...

"Come on, Mas. We're almost at the top."

"I hate you as much as I love you right now, you know that?" Mason groaned, glaring up at his fiancé.

"Yeah, I know," Liam called back with a laugh.

He stopped at the top of the canyon, pulling himself up onto the ledge and reaching down to pull Mason up. Mason breathed heavily as they sat on the edge of the world, leaning against Liam to catch his breath.

"The view's worth it, just like you said," Mason murmured, yawning widely.

"I told you it would be," Liam said through a yawn, falling back against the warm rock to sleep, Mason curling up against him.

...

Danny looked over to his library, inherited from his parents a year ago, a feeling of foreboding filling him. He knew the end was coming, even though he didn't know how or who or what end he really meant, he just knew it would be there soon. He headed out to the lounge room where his boyfriend was setting up a movie, almost tripping over his sleep-heavy feet to get to his boyfriend faster.

"Wake up, babe. Please, wake up," Danny begged, shaking his shoulder firmly.

"'S'ok, Danny. Just having a nap before the movie," he murmured, pulling Danny down onto his lap to hold him firmly.

"Love you," Danny murmured, sleep already claiming him.

"Love you," he replied with a final yawn.

...

In New York, Lydia called out for Jordan, smiling when she saw him dressed in his police officer's outfit. "We're going to be late for my speech if we don't leave soon."

"You're the main speaker, Lydia, I'm sure they'll wait for you," Jordan replied, kissing her gently and smiling. "What's wrong?" he asked, seeing her pale.

"Oh, no. It's time... _Jordan!_ " she screamed, even as he fell asleep standing up, resting against the doorframe.

Lydia didn't get a chance to scream anyone else's name, her own eyes closing and sleep claiming her, a tear slipping down her cheek.

...

Kira thought about Beacon Hills, not for the first time since leaving, but definitely the first time in almost two years. She looked at her photos, all of the places she'd travelled to and seen in the last four years, her cameras hanging from their hooks in her entryway. Kira didn't regret leaving, and sincerely hoped that Scott had given up on his crusade and lived his life instead, just like she had.

She was meant to go out surfing with her girlfriend this morning, but her bed was so comfortable, and surely a few more minutes wouldn't hurt?

"Hey, Kir. Ready to head out? Looks like the waves are perfect this morning," Malia called as she came into their bedroom, only to find Kira asleep on the bed. "Still sleeping?" she teased with a grin, then yawned widely herself.

Kira didn't respond, her breaths even and slow.

"Not a bad idea, Kir. The waves'll still be there later," Malia murmured, lying down beside Kira and holding her as they both slept.

...

The flames filled the world with a blue haze, reaching up into the sky to land planes and helicopters, and flowing down into the ocean to bring divers and submarines up to the surface. Stiles and Derek didn't want to damage the earth itself, and so took the extra time to ensure that all vehicles stopped without causing accidents, the people inside either sleeping or screaming. Eventually, as the screams died down, the world's noise from humanity stopped.

"Two-hundred thousand years of evolution and over seven billion people dead in three minutes and fifty-eight seconds."

"Let's aim for three minutes flat next time," Stiles snickered.

Derek rolled his eyes. "There won't be a next time. Humanity failed, for the most part, and I refuse to let them destroy another planet like they did this one."

Stiles sighed and nodded. "Yeah, I know, Dor. But the flames are collecting all of the good souls for us, so we've got something to work with, at least."

Between them, Artemis barked and gave a soft whine, the world still covered in blue flames around them. On the street, various pets were making their way out of houses, their noises of confusion almost drowning out the sound of the flames.

"We're not going to kill you, boy. But you won't survive on your own without any humans around, so we've got to take all of you back to your primal state," Derek murmured, scratching his ears gently.

Artemis barked again, nudging his wet nose against Derek's leg.

"We can't look after you, boy. We've got to get out of here to fix this place up, and you can't go up there with us."

"We could try," Stiles said, glancing to Tnerg meaningfully.

"Tnerg was different, she was created in our universe."

"This is even better, Dor, because it **is** our universe. It'll work, I know it will."

Artemis gave a happy bark, eager to try, eager to stay with Zbigniew and Dorek.

"All right, we'll try. Stay still, Artemis, there's a good boy," Derek murmured, placing his hands on the Doberman's head.

Stiles placed his hands on Artemis' back, splaying his fingers. "One, two, three."

They both changed to their otherworldly forms in a moment, blue light encasing them and Artemis. He trembled slightly, but stayed as still as possible. Tnerg trilled beside them, watching as Artemis' form shifted from solid to transparent, the dog becoming a bright beam of light for a second before Derek and Stiles shifted back to their human forms.

"Hey, not bad, Artemis," Stiles said, grinning when he saw the transparent Doberman floating before him.

Artemis twisted to try to see his own body, letting out a bark when he could see through his body completely. He continued to circle around, trying to catch the stream of light that was his tail excitedly.

"How are you feeling? Are you all right?" Derek asked, stilling Artemis' eager circles, and stroking his ears.

_Good. Ear rubs better_.

Stiles laughed in surprise when he heard Artemis' voice. "Oh, that's awesome. I didn't expect that!"

Derek looked absolutely delighted with the development. "Wait 'til you see the rest of the universe, Artemis. You're going to love it."

Artemis barked and agreed happily. Tnerg trilled in excitement and flew upwards to escape the atmosphere.

"Come on, Dor. We've got work to do," Stiles called, switching to his otherworldly form and following after Tnerg.

Derek cuddled against Artemis against chest, and he held the Doberman tightly for his first trip up into space, switching to his otherworldly form again before racing Stiles and Tnerg up into their universe.

...

Derek laughed when Artemis took off after a comet almost immediately. Stiles grinned and sent Tnerg after him so he wouldn't get lost behind Jupiter or something, then they got to work. All of the buildings, vehicles, and other man-made structures were the first to go. Stiles bundled everything up into their own little packages and flicked them through the Earth's atmosphere and towards the sun. Whatever didn't get burnt up in the atmosphere was swallowed by the fiery star, and if there were a few more craters in the moon, then that wasn't Stiles' fault.

While Stiles entertained himself, Derek worked to bring all of the animals out of hiding so he could fix the damage that domestication and humanity stealing habitats had created. All of the introduced animals were returned to their original countries, and the animals that were almost extinct were replenished carefully.

Stiles finished clearing the earth of the man-made structures and saw that Derek was busy with the animals. Stiles decided to clean up the rubbish humanity had left behind. All of the world's plastics and garbage was plucked out of landfills, rivers, mountains, the ocean, wrapped around animals and choking them, and Stiles worked painstakingly for three straight days to clean up every single piece of rubbish, wrapper, can, bottle, and other waste off of their precious Earth. Then, in a fit of anger at the size of the ball that had been created - almost half the size of Earth itself, after hundreds of thousands of years of people building on top of their own rubbish - Stiles pitched it across the universe into a different sun altogether. The sun flared brightly for a second, enough to make Derek look at him, and Artemis to bark worriedly.

"That sun flare probably just created life on another planet."

"Good, we'll go there while this one's repairing," Stiles muttered. "Should I leave the Stonehenge and Easter Island statues?"

"Hmm... No, we'll see what the next lot do with the same materials. And get rid of the pyramids too, the Sphinx's nose has always bothered me," Derek muttered, then returned to work on the animals.

"Hey, Dor? Want to make a skeleton theatre out of all of the bodies?"

"You're disgusting."

Stiles just laughed in response. Seven billion bodies rose into the air, then the dead rose out of their graves - marked or otherwise - and Stiles hummed bad horror music in the background. He switched abruptly to a can-can, the dead making the movements along with his impromptu song.

"Stop playing with humanity, Stiles."

"You're no fun. I was going to re-enact all of the wars."

"Don't you dare, you'll traumatise the animals with your ridiculous noises. Just reduce humanity down already," Derek said.

Stiles shrugged and clapped his hands together, all of the bodies smashing together and turning into zillions of particles, floating through the world's atmosphere to add nutrients to the earth.

"You forgot the underground things," Derek pointed out, seeing bunkers and uninhabited caves.

"Oh, yeah. Thanks," Stiles said, humming as he removed everything underground, weapons and dinosaur skeletons included. "Huh, look at that. Not one weapon of mass destruction. There's like _six_ in a completely different country though! I swear to me, humanity was a _terrible_ decision," he groaned.

"Don't swear to yourself, it's tacky," Derek murmured distractedly.

Stiles pulled a face the best he could, then continued to work, fixing up the holes created by mining and regrowing the trees in the rainforests. By the time he was satisfied with the state of the natural world, Derek had finished un-domesticating the animals and ensuring that they wouldn't all simply kill each other on sight. He had also recreated several species that had been made extinct, and added to populations that were dangerously low.

"I'll fix the pollutants in the air and the holes in the ozone layer if you work on the water," Stiles offered.

"All right, but you'll have to help eventually since the water's such a big job. I'll get the wrecks out first," Derek said, pulling out all of the ships and planes that had crashed and sunk below the waves.

What had once been blue water, as clear as the sky above, was now often brown in areas or green and moulding in others. This was a job that Derek was not looking forward to, but he knew that he would feel much better once it was finished.

"I've got dibs on the lakes," Stiles called.

"Fine by me. Don't forget the salt ones, and stop using them as mirrors," Derek muttered, pitching the various sunken transportation towards Jupiter.

"Ah, not Jupiter! You'll ruin my storm," Stiles cried out, stopping the mess of metal, wood, and plastic abruptly.

The oddly-shaped ball was redirected towards the sun, both Stiles and Derek wincing when it knocked into Mars and brought the red planet closer to Earth's orbit.

"What are we going to do about Mars? Repopulate it?"

"Nah, let's just fill it with water and see what happens," Stiles said, turning back to Earth to finish fixing the delicate ozone layer.

"Fine, but we're _not_ moving whatever evolves in there to a different planet again," Derek muttered.

He changed the course of several icy meteorites in a nearby galaxy to crash-land on Mars. The planet's atmosphere would do the rest, and eventually, the red planet would be covered in more water than Earth.

"No cross-planetary evolution this time, got it. Though, you've got to admit that the results were fascinating," Stiles pointed out.

"The results were deadly. If we'd been stuck for another 200 years, we wouldn't have a planet to save. Oh, and that reminds me," Derek muttered, moving over to the moon. "Fucking pieces of junk left _everywhere_."

Stiles let out a piercing whistle that brought Artemis bounding back over from the comet. "Artemis, be a good boy and go fetch the satellites, and spaceships, and whatever other junk you find, okay? Tnerg, you help him and show him how it's done, okay, sweetheart?"

Tnerg trilled, curling around Stiles and Derek before racing Artemis to the closest satellite. Artemis barked and ran after the banshee immediately.

"That'll keep them busy for a few days," Stiles said.

"The water's going to keep us busy for a few weeks," Derek muttered.

"True. We'd better get started then."

They both fell silent as they worked. Stiles finished clearing the world's pollutants and fixing the ozone layer, then moved on to help Derek with the water, clearing the lakes as promised.

"Zbee, if you make _one more_ sound effect, I'm going to put you back down on Earth and leave you there."

Stiles stopped using a long piece of bark as a surfboard and pouted over at Derek. "You wouldn't leave me here alone, would you, Dor?"

"Don't tempt me," he muttered.

Stiles just laughed and started working again.

Some time later, Artemis and Tnerg returned, Tnerg trilling and whistling in worry.

"Artemis did _what?_ " Stiles asked, Tnerg's noise finally getting through to him.

"Hmm?" Derek asked absent-mindedly, his concentration still focused on cleaning a particularly bad oil spill in the ocean.

"Artemis, drop it! Right now! Dor, your dog has Pluto."

"Wait, what? Artemis, bad! Give Pluto back right now!"

"Oh shit, I think he's going to swallow it. No, Artemis, don't do that! You're not meant to eat planets. Give it, c'mon, boy. Drop the planet!"

Artemis growled playfully around Pluto's small mass. Stiles chased him around Earth, under Mars, and back towards Mercury, Artemis' tail wagging happily the whole time. Tnerg wrapped herself around Artemis before he could reach Mercury, and Derek grabbed Pluto out of his mouth forcefully, wincing at the holes that had been created.

"Well, it looks like Pluto's just been given a few more craters. And possibly water," Derek said with a sigh, throwing Pluto back towards its usual spot.

It landed a few thousand metres beyond that, and Stiles whistled.

"Very impressive, Dor. Now, what did you two do with all of the space junk?" Stiles asked, looking to where Tnerg was still wrapped around Artemis.

_Ate it._

"You ate it. _Of course_ you did. You are probably going to be sick from eating all of that junk, you know that? You're taking care of him if he's sick," Stiles said to Derek.

"Fine. Artemis, sit and stay. Good boy."

"How are you going with the oceans?" Stiles asked, looking to where he was working. "Oh, that's almost clear again. You've done a really awesome job, Dor."

Derek's form changed from blue to red, as if he was blushing at the praise. Stiles flowed around him easily, the closest they could get to a hug in their corporeal forms, and then moved back to his own space to continue working.

When they finally finished days later, Derek looked over to where Artemis and Tnerg were sleeping, curled up together. Artemis was snoring softly, his breath moving a nearby star to and fro.

"Aw, they look so cute," Stiles said, grinning.

"Let's leave them to sleep for a while longer. Is there anything we've missed here?"

"I don't think so. It definitely looks cleaner than before," Stiles said, peering through the Earth itself to ensure everything was all right.

"Okay. What are we starting with this time? Primordial ooze again?"

"Nah. Let's do something less slimy this time."

"We're not making Ents, Stiles."

"Fine, no fish-people either."

"It is a sound argument!"

"No, it's not; it's creepy is what it is."

"Plants are not a good foundation; they can't move on their own!"

"That's not the point, sourwolf. The point is that _they could_ ," Stiles replied eagerly.

Derek shook his head, his body shimmering at the movement, and they both lapsed into silence.

"Wolves," Derek said suddenly.

"What?"

"Canines, let's start with them this time," Derek suggested.

"Canines instead of apes. It _could_ work."

Derek wound his way around Stiles. "Think about it. The results would be _fascinating_. They might even evolve opposable thumbs, or walk upright like the humans did."

Stiles hummed as he thought about Derek's idea. "All right, let's try it. But we're leaving the planet alone while they evolve this time," he added, curling his own form around Derek's even more.

"Agreed. That solar flare in the other galaxy might have started something by now. We can go have a look while this one's still in the early stages," Derek suggested.

Derek and Stiles wound around each other so tightly that soon enough even they couldn't identify where one or the other began. They moved as one, their forms expanding until they covered the Earth entirely, their light pulsing even brighter than the sun before dimming back to their usual state. The burst of light woke Artemis and Tnerg, and they both wound around Stiles and Derek in excitement, even Tnerg curious to see what would happen next.

"Tnerg, sweetheart, you've seen more of our universe than we have in the last million years; are there any tourist spots you'd recommend on our way to the next galaxy?" Stiles asked, his light shimmering against her scales.

Tnerg trilled and orbited around Mars in lazy circles. Then, without a word of warning, Tnerg shot off into space, body rippling with the movement.

Artemis followed after the banshee with a joyous bark. Laughing, Derek wound his way around Stiles and tugged him along to follow as well.

Behind them, Earth glowed bright and blue. The water was clear and full of animals that weren't hunted for delicacies, the air was fresh and no longer clogged with chemicals, and the world itself was devoid of any human structures or influences, just like it had been when they first created the world and the galaxy around it.

Stiles and Derek both hoped it stayed that way as long as inhumanly possible.

...

The end.

Thanks for reading!


End file.
